The filibuster's quick return

The Senate’s agreement to approve President Barack Obama’s nominees and avoid the “nuclear option” will expire later this week after senators are expected to vote in two new members to the National Labor Relations Board. That’s the last part of the deal that expedited seven of Obama’s picks, with the president agreeing to choose two NLRB nominees to satisfy Republicans.

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But there’s already a queue forming of new Obama nominees, and Republicans aren’t about to lay down and let this group go through.

Rep. Mel Watt’s nomination to lead a key housing agency appears in peril. The top Judiciary Committee Republican is slowing down Obama’s pick to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is hinting at another talking filibuster — this time of the FBI director nominee — in order to get information on the president’s drone program.

The Republican caucus is already experiencing rifts over the white-knuckle deal on the nuclear option. Senators who worked with Democrats voted opposite their leadership, which distanced itself from the agreement through votes against Obama’s nominees, reflecting the right-leaning composition of the majority of the Senate GOP and potentially complicating future agreements to avoid rules changes.

“The implication that somehow now Republicans are just going to roll over on these nominations is very wrong,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, a member of GOP leadership.

“If we’ve got members who raise red flags about particular nominees, yeah, the rest of us pay pretty close attention to that,” he added.

Both sides agree there was no handshake agreement to clear the path for future executive branch nominees. Reid didn’t agree to give up his ability to try and alter the rules by a majority vote and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell declined to shelve his members’ filibuster abilities.

In the words of the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, John Cornyn of Texas: “We are where we were before. Which is: It takes 60 votes.”

So without any deal, the White House and Senate Democrats are left hoping the good will of last week’s Old Senate Chamber meeting instilled lawmakers with a bipartisan spirit that will translate to more cooperation in the future.

That said, some Democrats are happy they retained the ability to go nuclear in the future if they don’t like the way things are headed on nominations.

“A rules change is absolutely on the table if these delay tactics reappear,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).

Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, a senior Democrat with strong ties to Reid, doesn’t think things will get that far. She just spent weeks shepherding through Gina McCarthy’s nomination to the lead the EPA, encountering Republicans who boycotted her hearing and asked McCarthy to answer hundreds of questions before she was allowed to proceed.